The capacity of wireless ad hoc networks with multi-packet reception

We compute the throughput capacity of random dense wireless ad hoc networks for multi-pair unicast traffic in which nodes are endowed with multi-packet reception (MPR) capabilities. We show that ¿ ((R(n))^(1-2)/¿/n^1/¿) and ¿ (R(n)) bits per second constitute tight bounds for the throughput capacity under the physical and protocol model assumptions, respectively, where n is the total number of nodes in the network, ¿ > 2 is the path-loss parameter in the physical model, and R(n) is the MPR communication range. In so doing, we close the gap between the lower and upper bounds of throughput capacity in the physical model. Compared to the capacity of point-to-point communication reported by Gupta and Kumar, MPR increases the order capacity of random wireless ad hoc networks under both protocol and physical models by at least ¿(log n) and ¿ ((log n) ^¿-2/2¿), respectively. We address the cost incurred in increasing the throughput capacity of wireless ad hoc networks over what can be attained when sources and destinations communicate over multi-hop paths under the physical model assumption. We define the power efficiency ¿(n) as the bits of information transferred per unit time (second) in the network for each unit power, and compute such power efficiency for different techniques. We show that a lower power efficiency is attained in order to achieve higher throughput capacity.